The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

Steff

July

ferf1223 wrote: »

We ordered ours from amazon.co.uk late last year or early this year and paid £8 or so for it...I suppose the later in the year, the less available the book is and the more they charge for it.

Ah - ha - now that makes more sense! I was sure that I only paid £7 - £8 for it - at that price it is an absolute gem!
Do you know when they come out for 2009 then? I'll give myself a reminder to order one
Steff;)

ferf1223

March

Katykat wrote: »

I've dreamed so long about going, I think I want all the glitz and razamatazz. Rest of the family are leaning on me heavily to go for the Bellagio, but something is holding me back. Not sure what. Its not the price, because the Wynn is more expensive and Venetian even more, but ther's something. Sounds like you had a whale of a time, glad you got to see the canyon, its definately on my agenda

I've stayed at both Wynn and Bellagio (only one night in each, but still!)

We preferred Wynn by a mile. Other than the fountain view we had at Bellagio, Wynn won out in every respect for us - and we had a panoramic view room at Wynn that while it lacked a fountain show, was a really good view (if partially blocked by the Palazzo tower).

As Steff said - Wynn is far more sedate than Bellagio...which can be really nice at times. We felt a bit out of our element at Bellagio when we stayed there (though oddly don't feel out of place in the casino), but didn't at Wynn (we're not high rollers nor do we normally stay at 5* hotels). Wynn's bedding was incredibly comfortable...I wanted to steal the pillows (but didn't...I understand that they sell them in the gift shop for an outrageous amount of money).

Bellagio was very nice by all accounts - the only way I can think to put it is that Bellagio was nice as a one-time treat, but we wouldn't make an effort to stay there again unless it was ridiculously cheap...whereas Wynn, while we wouldn't want to pay rack rate to stay there, we would consider paying to stay there again (since we normally get comped or discount rooms at HET properties it's rare for us to even consider staying somewhere that's not nearly free. )

I really think that for a first trip everyone should stay on the strip at least for part of your trip.

ferf1223

March

Steff wrote: »

Ah - ha - now that makes more sense! I was sure that I only paid £7 - £8 for it - at that price it is an absolute gem!
Do you know when they come out for 2009 then? I'll give myself a reminder to order one
Steff;)

They are published in early November in the US - but I think that amazon.co.uk doesn't usually get them in stock until mid to late November (I remember this because most year's we've gone the first week of November and the UK side hasn't had them yet before we've flown at least some years). But you can usually pre-order one if you're going December or later.

ferf1223

March

Steff wrote: »

In the very unlikely event that I use restaurant.com again I would first find a restaurant over there that I liked (eg Bills Steakhouse) and see if restaurant.com did vouchers for it - that way I would at least have a clue if good service was the norm - then there would be no issue.

Some don't have the gratuity as a requirement (if it does it will be listed on the terms) so perhaps you would consider some of those?

in any event, I understand your concerns and can see why you wouldn't want to jump back into it again...I would be annoyed too if I had to pay 18% gratuity for crappy food and crappy service.

nvh

May

i'm not keen on the 'compusary' 18% gratuity either - as ferf said, when we bought one we made sure it was not a compulsary gratuity and went for the 'Cafe Ba Ba Reeba' for that reason, but also because it was opposite Wynn which is where we knew we needed to go to collect some tickets for a show (the day before the show) so we were able to plan to be there for tea

nvh

May

wow Steff - that's one hell of a lengthy tripadvisor review will read that whilst I have me lunch

it's a shame there isn't somewhere all the MSE'rs can put our trip reports (no matter how big or small) cos they seem to get lost in this thread and could be quite informative - any thoughts / suggestions?

ferf1223

March

nvh wrote: »

wow Steff - that's one hell of a lengthy tripadvisor review will read that whilst I have me lunch

it's a shame there isn't somewhere all the MSE'rs can put our trip reports (no matter how big or small) cos they seem to get lost in this thread and could be quite informative - any thoughts / suggestions?

http://www.lasvegastripreport.com/

nvh

May

sorry Ferf, meant just MSE trip reports that could work though if Trets managed to keep the first post up to date with them either that or a seperate thread but it would have to be kept clean... or, the first post could have links to trip reports in it?

i dunno - just thinking out loud i guess

Steff - you got any pics you are gonna post?

nzamcdza

November/December

nvh wrote: »

sorry Ferf, meant just MSE trip reports that could work though if Trets managed to keep the first post up to date with them either that or a seperate thread but it would have to be kept clean... or, the first post could have links to trip reports in it?

i dunno - just thinking out loud i guess

Steff - you got any pics you are gonna post?

Why not just open a thread just for trip reports?

nzamcdza

November/December

Folks I have been looking for flights for a few days now and havnt found any great bargins so far. Some decent ones but nothing great.

Im planning a trip someime before christmas and i can go anytime in october, november and early december but i have to book the flights in the next 3 days!!!

Are there any good sites for finding cheap flights over a long period like that? The most i can find is making the dates flexible by 3/7 days. I want to make it flexible by a month or 2!

I dont care when I fly but would rather fly direct as I will have to fly from Northern Ireland to england first anyay and dont want 3 flights there and 3 back.

Dont care what day I go out or come back as long as its for around 10 nights. Any ideas on the best site for this sort of thing? Or any other tips that would help?

Any help would be much appreciated!